Pile fabric loom



y 3, 1951 s. MQKNIGHT 2,559,507

PILE FABRIC LOOM Filed lay 10. 1949 INVENTOR ATTORN EY5 Patented July 3, 1951 PILE FABRIC LOOM Stewart McKnight, Amsterdam, N. Y., assignor to Mohawk Carpet Mills, Inc., Amsterdam, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 10, 1949, Serial No. 92,321

7 Claims. (01. 139-97) This invention relates to pile fabric looms, in which pile warp yarns are raised over pile wires during the weaving operation and either remain as loops or are cut and converted into tufts, when the wires are withdrawn. More particularly, the invention is concerned with an improved loom for producing tapestry or velvet fabrics, which is so constructed that the weaver has an opportunity to inspect the pile warp yarns on their way from the beam to the harness frames and can thus eliminate bulky knots, which might jam in the heddle eyes or reed dents and cause the knotted yarn to break and the loom to stop.

Tapestry and velvet looms as now built are similar in all respects except that, in a tapestry loom, the pile wires do not carry knives and thus leave the pile yarns in loop form, while, in a velvet loom, each wire has a knife which severs the yarns raised over the wire to form pile tufts. In such looms, the shedding of the pile and stuffer warps and the fine chains is effected by cam operated harnesses and the pile warp beam is mounted on the loom sides close to the rear harness in the group.- Between the beam and the harnesses, the pile warp yarns are led about cradle shafts to maintain the yarns under tension, and the beam, harnesses, and cradle shafts are so close together that the weaver has a most no chance of detecting a knot on a pile warp yarn, which is sufliciently bulky to catch in a heddle eye or reed dent and cause the yarn to break. Whenever such a break occurs, the loom stops automatically, and the weaver must locate the broken yarn, thread it through the heddle eye or its dent in the reed, and retie it properly before the loom can be started again. The difficulty in present looms of noting and eliminating large knots from the pile yarns is thus a cause of loss of production.

The present invention is directed to the provision of improvements in tapestry and velvet looms, which facilitate the removal of bulky knots from the pile warp yarns by causing the yarns to pass on their way from the beam to the tension means along a path, which includes a stretch of substantial length at the front of the loom and in a location readily accessible to the weaver. In a loom embodying the invention, the warp yarns leaving the beam are led upwardly and over the harness operating mechanism, downwardly at the front of the loom below the level of that mechanism, and then rearwardly between the mechanism and the harnesses to the tension means. The yarns in the vertical part of their path at the front of the loom are in a position where they can be readily inspected by the weaver without interference with his other duties and, as the yarns are advancing slowly, he can ordinarily eliminate a bad knot without stopping the loom. Even, if the loom must be stopped for the purpose, the knot can be retied before it reaches its heddle eye, so that the possibility of damage being done to the heddle and the loss of time involved in locating the yarn and rethreading the heddle are avoided.

For a better understanding of the invention,'

reference may be made to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a portion of the loom provided with the new warp yarn guiding means; and

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views on the lines 22 and 3-3, respectively, of Fig. 1.

The loom illustrated in the drawings includes sides l0 connected by girts II and provided with top extensions i2. The girts support pairs of mounts l3, l4 and the mounts I3 carry a shaft l5, on which are pivoted a plurality of harness levers I6. Each lever has an arm H, to which is attached a, connecting rod l8 actuated by one of the harness cams (not shown) to rock the lever. A rod I9 is connected at its upper end to another arm 20 of the lever and the lower end of rod I9 is connected to a harness frame 2| near one end thereof. The mounts ll support a shaft 22, on which are pivoted four harness levers 23 and one arm 24 of each lever 23 is connected by a rod 25 to the third arm 26 of a corresponding lever Hi. The other arm 21 of each lever 23 is connected to the end of a rod 28 having its lower end connected to a harness frame 2| near the end opposite to that at which the frame is attached to rod I9. The loom includes four harness frames 2| and the front frame 2|a handles the pile warp yarns, while two others handle the fine chains or binder warps and the final one handles the stuffer warps. The four rods I9 lie in a row lengthwise of the loom and rods 28 lie in a similar row.

A cradle shaft 29 extending transversely of the loom is mounted in bearings carried by the loom sides and lies to the rear of the group of harness frames. The shaft is provided with arms 30, on the free ends of which is mounted a second cradle shaft 3|. Shaft 29 is provided with counterweighted arms (not shown), which tend to rock the shaft counter-clockwise and thus swing arms 30 and shaft 3| in the same direction. The warp yarn beam 32 is mounted on an arbor 33 supported in notches in loom sides i0.

In looms as heretofore constructed, the pile warp yarns are ledfrom the lower part of the beam over cradle shaft 29, between shafts 29 and 3|, and then forwardly beneath shaft 3|. From shaft 3|, the yarns pass through the four harness frames and are threaded through the heddle eyes in the front frame 2 la. The weighting on shaft 29 urging it to swing counter-clockwise causes shaft 3| to engage the yarns and maintain them under tension. With this arrangement, it will be apparent that the weaver has little opportunity to inspect the yarns between the beam and the harness frames, and bulky knots on yarns, that have been broken and poorly tied, may pass to the heddle eyes, where the knots are likely to jam with the result that the yarns are broken. Even if the knots pass the heddle eyes, they may catch in the dents of the reed with resultant yarn breakage.

In the loom illustrated in the drawings, the yarns are guided in such fashion between the beam and the harness frames that the weaver has a chance to inspect the yarns and eliminate bulky knots. In the improved loom, the shafts of a pair of yarn guide rollers 34, 35 are mounted in bearings 36 carried by the loom side extensions I2, so that the rollers lie above the harness operating mechanism. The bearings are preferably of the anti-friction type and roller 34 lies near the rear and roller 35 near the front of the extensions I2. The shaft of a third guide roller 31 is supported for free revolution in bearings 38 attached to brackets 39 on one of the girts II at the front of the loom, the roller lying above the tops of the harness frames. The pile warp yarns 40 drawn from beam 32 are passed upwardly over roller 34 and thence forwardly over roller 35. From roller 35, the yarns are passed downwardly around roller 31 and then between the rods 19, 28, from which harness frames depend, to the upper cradle shaft 29. The yarns pass over shaft 29 to the rear and then downwardly and beneath shaft 3|. From the latter shaft, the yarns are led forwardly through the harness frames and threaded through the heddle eyes of frame 2la. In order to prevent the portions of the yarns between roller 31 and shaft 29 from striking rods 19, 28, a pair of deflectors 4| are attached to girt II in front of the rows of rods. Similar deflectors 42 attached to girt ll extend downwardly at the rear ends of the rows of rods, so that the warp yarns, which would otherwise contact with rods I9, 28, are deflected as they approach the rods and spread apart slightly, as shown in Fig. 2, to clear the rods.

In the improved loom, the warp yarns in the stretch 40a. between rollers 35 and 31 form' a vertical sheet, which is at the front of the loom in such position that the yarns can be readily inspected. In this stretch, the yarns travel slowly and the weaver can easily detect a poorly tied knot and correct it, ordinarily without'stopping the loom. If the loom must be stopped for the purpose, the knot can be retied in a short time, since the yarn is readily accessible and no rethreading of the yarn through a heddle eye or reed dent is necessary.

I claim:

1. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, pairs of vertical rods, the rods of each pair having their lower ends connected to a.

harness near opposite ends thereof, harness operating levers mounted on the frame and connected to the upper ends of the rods for raising and lowering the pairs of rods and the harnesses depending therefrom, tension means mounted on the frame for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, and means mounted on the loom frame for guiding warp yarns from the beam upwardly at the rear of the levers,'ove'r the levers, downwardly in front of the levers, and beneath the levers to the tension means.

2. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, pairs of vertical rods, the rods of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness near opposite ends thereof, harness operating levers mounted on the frame and connected to the upper ends of the rods for raising and lowering the pairs of rods and the harnesses depending therefrom, tension means mounted on the frame for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, and means for guiding the warp yarns from the beam to the tension means, including a guide roll mounted on the frame to lie between the sides at a level higher than and to the rear of the levers, a second guide roll mounted on the frame to lie between the sides at a level higher than and in front of the levers; and a third guide roll mounted to lie between the sides of the frame in front of and below the levers and above the tops of the harnesses, the warp yarns being led from the beam up and over the first roll, across to and over the second roll, down to and under the third roll, and thence over the tops of the harnesses to the tension means.

3. In a loom havinga frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, pairs of vertical rods, the rods of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness near opposite ends thereof, harness operating levers mounted on the frame and connected to the upper ends of the rods for raising and lowering the pairs of rods and the harnesses depending therefrom, tension means mounted on the frame for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, means mounted on the loom frame for guiding warp yarns from the beam upwardly at the rear of the levers, over the levers, down- -wardly in front of the levers, and beneath the levers to the tension means, and means mounted on the frame and deflecting the warp yarns to prevent their contact with the rods.

4. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, pairs of vertical rods, the rods of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness near opposite ends thereof, harness operating levers mounted on the frame and connected to the upper ends of the rods for raising and lowering the pairs of rods and the harnesses depending therefrom, the rods lying in two rows extending lengthwise of the loom, tension means for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, means on the frame for guiding warp yarns from. the beam upwardly at the rear of the levers, over the levers, downwardly in front of the levers, and beneath the levers to the tension means, and means on the frame at opposite ends of each row of rods for deflecting the warp yarns adjacent the rods to prevent contact of the yarns with the rods.

5. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, pairs of vertical rods, the rods of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness near opposite ends thereof, harness operating levers mounted on the frame between and below the upper ends of the sides, the levers being connected to the upper ends of the rods and operable to raise and lower the rods and the harnesses depending therefrom, tension means for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, and means for guiding the warp yarns from the beam to the tension means, including a guide roll mounted on the frame to lie between the sides at a level higher than and to the rear of the levers, a second guide roll mounted on the frame to lie between the sides at a level higher than and in front of the levers, and a third uide roll mounted to lie between the sides of g the frame in front of and below the levers and above the tops of the harnesses, the warp yarns being led from the beam up and over the first roll, across to and over the second roll, down to and under the third roll, and thence over the tops of the harnesses to the tension means.

6. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, harness operating means including pairs of vertical supporting elements, the elements of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness and said means being operable to raise and lower the pairs of elements and the harnesses depending, therefrom, tension means mounted on the frame for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, and means mounted on the loom frame for guiding warp yarns from the beam upwardly at the rear of the elements, over the upper end of the harness operating means, downwardly in front of the elements, and through the space immediately above the harnesses to the tension means.

'7. In a loom having a frame including a pair of sides formed to provide a support for a warp beam, the combination of a plurality of harnesses, harness operating means including pairs of vertical supporting elements, the elements of each pair having their lower ends connected to a harness and said means being operable to raise and lower the pairs of elements and the harnesses depending therefrom, tension means mounted on the frame for applying tension to warp yarns on their way from the beam through the harnesses, means mounted on the loom frame for guiding warp yarns from the beam upwardly at the rear of the elements, over the upper end of the harness operating means, downwardly in front of the elements. and through the space immediately above the harnesses to the tension means, and means mounted on the frame for deflecting the warp yarns to prevent their contact with the harness supporting elements.

STEWART McKNIGHT.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

